The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

114 EXCERPTED MANUSCRIPTS AT QUMRAN
preserved text represents a new Psalm, which forms a coherent whole
and presumably comprised 135:1–12 + 136:23–26.” 32
Other, at times less certain, examples of excerpted manuscripts can be
found in Table 1; indeed, not all would agree that the six outlined above
are excerpted. 33 Whatever the case, if these various scrolls are, at least
temporarily, understood as excerpted and considered together, two types
of excerption or abbreviation are evident: (1) texts that excerpt or abbreviate
from two different books of the Pentateuch (e.g., 4QTestim [4Q175]; the
phylacteries and mezuzot, 4QDeut j ); and (2) texts that excerpt or abbreviate
from different sections of the same biblical book (e.g., 4QExod d,e ;
4QDeut k1,n,q ; 5QDeut [5Q1]; certain Psalms texts, esp. 4QPs n ; 4QCant a,b
[4Q106-107]). 34 The jury must remain out, at least for the time being, for
several of these texts, but one should note that in many of these manuscripts,
some sort of scribal break (paragraphing by means of vacats or
scribal signs, etc.) is evident between the different excerptions. 35 4QDeut n
is particularly notable in this regard in that the column containing Deut
8:5–10 was sewn before the columns containing Deut 5:1–6:1, indicating
that the scribe was intentionally “putting together a collection of
excerpted texts.” 36
Discussion of the function(s) of these manuscripts and thus the purpose(s)
behind their excerption is provided below (§4); but even at this
point it should be stated that in some compositions and at some levels,
rearrangement is very much an exegetical technique. 37
b. Size Matters: Smaller Dimensions and Shorter Columns
Excerpted manuscripts are typically quite small in size. As the data in
Table 1 indicate, with the exception of 4QTestim and 4QEzek a (4Q73),
the documents are all less than 20 lines, with most containing 15 or less.
32. Patrick W. Skehan, Eugene C. Ulrich, and Peter W. Flint, “4QPs n ,” in Qumran
Cave 4.XI: Psalms to Chronicles (ed. E. Ulrich et al.; DJD 16; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000), 137.
33. The two that are problematic are, of course, 4QExod d (4Q15) and 4QPs n
(4Q95). For the latter, see further §4 below.
34. This follows Tov, “Excerpted and Abbreviated,” 598. The Psalms texts, in particular,
constitute a vexed question. See §4 below.
35. Note, e.g., Testimonia (4Q175), which has paragraphs (with partial vacats) and the
paragraphos sign demarcating the four texts. The phylactery and mezuzah texts also
often have their excerpts separated by a partial vacat or by a complete blank line.
36. White (Crawford), “4QDt n ,” 16; see further 14–17.
37. See Moshe J. Bernstein, “Re-Arrangement, Anticipation and Harmonization as
Exegetical Features in the Genesis Apocryphon,” DSD 3 (1996): 37–57.